Raventide (rey-vuhn -tahyd)

7th of Korli- Raventide or First of Ravens is a celebratory day marking the beginning of the Ravenist cycle of lengthening nights. The Feast day commemorates the end of the light and is the secondary holy day of the Raven Queen, Guardian of the Shadowfell and Mistress of Fate. Raventide is celebrated the day after the Summer Solstice as the oncoming of longer nights ahead. It also marks the midpoint of the year on the Al'Uvium Calendar. The feast is celebrated the night following High Pelorum and begins at dusk. Most communities sleep in on the day of Raventide in recovery from High Pelorum making the all night celebration of Raventide easier. Festivities include Late meals by star light, Midnight rides, drinking, storytelling, and drawing the Reaper; A ritual in which an effigy of the Soul Reaper or Raven Queen is sat upon a throne, usually a member of the community in costume, to which the members of the community make their plea for life and pledge of dying for the coming ravenist cycle. Those that Draw the Reaper ask that their fate be free of death but that if they are to die within the year they be given the gift of a gentle passing. In deference to the Raven Queen the Drawers swear to travel beyond without hesitation rather than becoming undead on the material plane. Many years ago, on Raventide, a child, whose parents had told her Drawing the Reaper meant she would get a gift of passage if she followed the path of fate, asked the Raven Queen for a gift other than passage in the event she lived through the cycle. Other children hearing this, spread the word and did the same. The Raven Queen was delighted by this and sent her reapers out on Ravencrest to bring small gifts to the children of this village. The tradition grew and Ravencrest gifts became the norm for good boys and girls who engaged in the Drawing the Reaper ritual on Raventide. Ravenist holidays are always celebrated in concert with Pelorum holidays as they precede or follow each other. See High Pelorum